


You Can Do This

by des_star



Category: Celeste (Video Game)
Genre: Celeste is a weird place, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, I'm making this up along the way, Let me see how I can explain game mechanics in story form, Madeline's been collecting those strawberries and tapes, No Romance, Supernatural Elements, Theo and Granny have abilities too, This is my source for more Theo interaction, Trans Madeline, non-linear timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/des_star/pseuds/des_star
Summary: Drabbles about Madeline’s adventures on Celeste Mountain. Nothing too heavy, mostly ideas that come into my head while playing.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	1. By the fire

_This is it, Madeline._

_Just breathe._

_Why are you so nervous?_

…

“Well, that’s what I was thinking at first.”

“No _wonder_. I mean, I only really came up here for some sweet photos. Even then, seeing Celeste Mountain in front of me was enough to make me want to… y’know, just snap a quick pic and leave!”

Smoke and ashes from the campfire between Theo and Madeline blew out into the distance. Beyond them was nothing but open air for what seemed like miles, and as the smoke descended into space, at a certain point it was pushed away by a heavy gale. Madeline had just come back from facing similar winds head-on, only now having the time to put herself- and her hair- back in order. Although Theo looked much less rattled by the Golden Ridge itself, one unfortunate misstep on the way to their campsite left him with a gnarly black-eye. He suggested they take a rest for the night before he got exhausted and smacked one of his other eyes in.

Their campsite was lucky to be in a relatively dead zone among the ridge’s air currents, enough to set up two tents and maintain a stable fire.

“I know, right? This mountain has a sort of… intimidating _energy_ around it. Like it’s challenging you, even daring you to give it a shot.” Madeline stared over at the sides of the nearby cable-car that gleamed in the fire’s light. That energy she mentioned hadn’t left her side of the mountain yet, and it made the idea of something as simple as a gondola ride seem like a big risk to take.

“For me it was more of a _‘I haven’t climbed a mountain before, and oh crap I didn’t pack any rope’_ feeling.” As always, Theo took his troubles throughout the journey in stride, now feeling more than calm enough to prepare himself some evening coffee in one of his camping pots. “Guess you don’t need a rope though when you’ve got weird superpowers, courtesy of this ol’ mountain.” He sipped at his drink a minute too early. _“Ah. Ow.”_

“Why did you continue the climb?”

“Good question. At first I thought I was desperate for some nice shots, but I think I just wanted to experience some of Celeste for myself. Take my mind off all of the _normal_ stuff for a bit.”

Madeline nodded in response, finding a common sentiment between them. After all, there didn’t seem like a better way to get away from life’s trappings than to get up as high as possible on a huge, near uninhabited chunk of rock. Her own motivations never stayed that simple, however.

“And uh, honestly? I was pretty inspired by your determination back there.”

“Really?” Taken aback, Madeline’s gaze quickly shifted down to the fire.

“Hey, I saw you climbing those buildings back there like a woman possessed. How could I _not_ follow that sort of example?”

Madeline recalled the first moment on the ascent that she wanted to quit. After nearly falling victim to that bridge at the old woman’s yard, she was about to pack up and head back home with the excuse of being unprepared. The gravity of that woman’s words began to weigh on her… if the first bridge on the way to the mountain trail was almost enough to kill her, what good would she be further up? Maybe the mountain was going to be too much for her. Her mind had become so muddled that she totally forgot about having achieved an airborne miracle only seconds before.

But, for once in her life, she managed to stop herself from giving up on something. Madeline put her thoughts to rest, took a deep breath, and started taking her first steps forward. It wasn’t a moment she could explain even to herself, but despite all of the doubts that she carried and all of those doubts that she brought with her to the foot of the mountain making their best efforts to cloud her mind and dissuade her, she was able to pick out and focus on one phrase.

_You can do this._

And from then on it was these words that kept her going.

“I guess I went pretty _gung-ho_ there, didn’t I?” She answered with a nervous chuckle, deciding to keep her previous train of thought to herself at least verbally. Theo had to stop himself from mentioning the ten-second pause she’d taken.

“For real! I was beginning to feel bad for not taking the hard path with you, but my legs were already tired from the hike all the way to the city, so…”

“There was an easy path?”

“Madeline…” Theo smirked, pulling out his phone with the feeling of Madeline’s foreboding stare on him. “There was literally a staircase straight to the ruins. Look- it stretches all around the city.”

His screen turned towards her, and on it were scenic shots with the abandoned city in full view. The image was just as dark as she remembered, but she could just make out a worn set of stairs to the right of the frame. Madeline froze.

“And, like, I wanted to tell you but… Look, there was no way I was catching up to _that_ blue blur.” Theo swiped to the next photo in the gallery, another shot of the city. Upon closer inspection however, what appeared to be a shooting star turned out to be a pixel-sized Madeline darting across the distance between two skyscrapers.

He managed to keep his chuckling to himself, letting out a few stifled ones as he put his phone away. “But hey, you got to challenge yourself! You can’t say you’re not prepared for the rest of the climb now, huh?”

Madeline’s head fell into her hands. That entire day’s worth of climbing started feeling a lot less like an achievement. _“I’m- just gonna try to forget about that.”_

…

Inspired by Theo, Madeline took one of the tea-bags out of her backpack and steeped it in a pot of hot water. She wasn’t sure if it was the freezing weather surrounding them, but green tea tasted much different while sitting over a campfire. Less bitter and even more satisfying. It certainly warmed up her hands, which began to feel calloused after a full day of climbing the Ridge.

“So, um, you know how I can do that whole dashing thing?”

Theo nodded with enthusiasm. “Yeah, and it’s pretty crazy to watch. What about it?”

“I’m almost sure that it was something given to me by the Mountain. And you mentioned _‘superpowers’_ before, so… Did you have anything like that happening to you?” Madeline blew over the surface of her tea softly and took a sip while Theo thought to himself. “Because I can’t imagine a normal climber ever getting this far alone.”

“Well, I’m no normal climber.” He said with his usual smirk. “But I have actually been feeling some weird things since I started. Like… hm.” Theo scratched at his beard, having a bit of trouble explaining himself. “So you do the whole dashing stuff. Is it something you _‘activate’_ consciously?”

“Not… really?” Madeline shrugged. “It’s more like I’m reaching for a rope. Except when I pull the rope it isn’t with my hands, and I travel along it using my own willpower… and the rope is something the Mountain’s throwing down for me. Another climber’s already been there, and had been setting up the routes for me to use as I progress. I can’t just do it whenever I want is what I mean.”

“Right. Lemme try one of your deep analogies.” Theo rubbed his hands together to prepare himself, leaving Madeline wondering whether she really did use too many ‘deep analogies’. “For myself it’s more like an internal compass. I’m climbing up the mountain normally, but then I have this urge to take a weird shortcut out of nowhere. Kind of an itchy feeling, really. Every time I’ve followed my itch, it’s taken me through a crazy convenient path, and I just… _end up_ where I want to be!” He looked to Madeline, who had just finished her moment of self-reflection. ”At first I thought it was my natural talent and intuition taking the helm, but maybe it really is something the Mountain’s been giving me. Which is neat to think about”

“That wasn’t much of an analogy, but I see what you mean! That’s a cool ability, Theo.”

“Wonder if that old Granny back there’s got one too…”

Madeline’s expression dropped like a bad memory was brought up. _“Maybe the Mountain tells her the best way to get under someone’s skin.”_

The jab earned a laugh from him. “But I mean, she lives here, right? There’s no way she hasn’t tried tackling the summit yet.”

“Actually, I saw her down at the foot of the Ridge today. And, like I said, no normal climber could get through the city, those ruins and the resort alone. Do you think the Mountain unlocks some weird, unknown potential in everybody that tries to climb it?”

“Now that I think about it...” Theo nodded thoughtfully, looking out into the ridge below them as if to reflect on how far they’d come. A 2 kilometer ascent on such terrain seemed impossible at first, but he found himself gaining pride in his achievements even if the Mountain was giving him some guidance along the way. After all, it was him who was taking action and facing all of the challenges of the trail, and he was able to catch up to _Madeline_ , no less. His face lit up as he turned back to her. “There’s gotta be a reason everyone who’s reached the top of this thing said it changed their life. You’re probably right about that!”

“I wonder how it’s been kept a secret for all of these years, then…”

“I mean, nobody’s gonna believe you if you post something like _‘I just climbed Celeste Mountain and it turns out my feet can double as rockets!’_ on your InstaPix.”

“Rockets?”

Theo yawned, putting away the pot he’d been drinking from and checking his eye with a soft touch and a pained flinch. “We’re talking _superpowers_ , Madeline. The sky’s the limit!”

Prompted by Theo’s yawning and remaining skeptical of his example, Madeline shifted out of the comfort of her rock seat and took another few glances at the gondola, which had been restlessly squeaking as the wind pushed on its sides. Even with her aforementioned abilities to help her, the idea of riding that thing gave her shivers that she’d need to sleep off. It was an anxiety that felt completely irrational, but that was something Madeline dealt with often enough to pass off as normal.

“You heading to bed?”

“Yeah. I think I want to get as much rest as I can before tomorrow. Who knows what we’re going to see past those clouds…”

“Good call, I was just thinking the same. Don’t worry too much about it though!” Theo stood up and stretched his back, following with a grunt that suggested the fall hadn’t only bruised up his eye. “You’ve got that _magic willpower-rope_ to work with, don’t you?”

Madeline had to wonder how Theo picked up on the worries in her mind. Did she really show it that much? “Right… but it’s a bit concerning, even with that. Maybe one day this Mountain’s going to stop giving me second chances?”

“Honestly with that determination you’ve got, I wouldn’t be surprised if you made it without the help. Anyway, I’m off to my tent… seeya tomorrow.” Theo signed off with a small wave, knowingly forcing her to take that compliment as it stood.

“Er- okay. Goodnight.”

Madeline stayed outside for a few minutes afterward, her eyes darting between the distance to the forests below, then the sway of the gondola, and then the campfire burning out in ashes. She hoped that having a few minutes to breathe and take in the view would clear her mind up a bit. When that failed to work and her nervous thoughts continued to make their way to the surface, all she could do was try to focus on that single phrase once again:

_You can do this._

A final and deep exhale marked the end of her evening, and Madeline retreated to her own tent for some much-needed rest.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there goes that chapter. I’m going to be writing in the gaps between a lot of the game’s events in no particular order, so if there’s a moment you want to see pop up in one of these chapters, feel free to suggest one! Of course, feedback about the writing is also appreciated.


	2. 1000 points

“Because it’s important!”

“Madeline, it’s a strawberry. There’s probably a million of those things growing downhill, not to mention the ones you can find in the _grocery store_ …”

“Trust me, these are rare. I’ve only got a few- look, check my bag!”

As Theo zipped open Madeline’s backpack, he found them sitting snugly right on top of everything else: A decently sized tupperware box filled with a couple dozen freshly-picked wild strawberries. He slowly closed the bag up and looked back at her, his concerns mounting. “You said _a few?_ ”

Of the ones she’d already collected some were trivial, others were precarious, but this particular strawberry managed to grow itself on the most ridiculous spot as high up on the Old Ruins as possible. The tiny fruit hung directly over a pit of spike-shaped rocks with crumbling handholds leading towards it; all that was missing were the swinging blades and pits full of sharks to boot. Madeline had spent the past ten minutes darting up this towering hunk of stone, only to fall down with nothing but her dash left to catch herself.

Theo found her mid-attempt while on his way to find some firewood, a task he dropped altogether to watch instead. Every time she slipped or a rock fell from under her, his heart dropped-- only to see her manage to slide down or zip back up to safety. “For real, what do you even need these for?” As stressful as it was to watch, he couldn’t take his eyes away.

Madeline grunted and struggled, lifting herself up onto a rocky arch to prepare for her next move. “I told you! My mom wanted something from the mountain, so I can give these to her for… I don’t know, baking? That’s something she does.”

“But, like, you’re kind of endangering yourself right now. And I can’t guarantee I’ll catch you if something goes… y’know.” Theo’s face began to grow serious.

At Madeline’s altitude, her hearing had been taken over by the call of the wind. “What?”

 _“C’mon, get down before I start having heart problems down here!”_ Theo raised his voice, even beginning to sound irritated.

“Look, when I said I wanted to challenge myself, I meant it! If I left this behind now I’d be giving up, and I’m not giving up until I get to the summit, and I’m not giving up until I get all of these _goddamn strawberries!_ ” Madeline yelled back down, following with a huge leap and another off of the wall opposite. A finishing dash put her on ‘solid’ ground, one story close to her goal.

Theo set her bag down with a defeated sigh, wondering why he ever tried to convince her otherwise. “I don’t understand you at all. Just be careful!”

_“What?”_

Seeing how determined she was to collect the lone strawberry, Theo considered setting up camp on the spot. However, as he continued to watch he soon noticed that Madeline was getting much closer to the top than before, and now he was on his toes. 

Being this far away, all he could do was silently cheer her on.

A dash, a grab, and then a jump. This time Madeline approached the climb more methodically, honing the skills she’d gained from her romp around the abandoned city throughout the early morning. It seemed that after a number of failures and near-falls, she’d been given a second wind and had her muscle memory refreshed!

If you asked her why she switched gears in this moment, she’d tell you it was to prove Theo wrong. Madeline knew he had good intentions in his efforts to stop her, but she was tired of telling herself and being told by others that she _couldn’t do it_. Whenever she accepted that judgement her life had gone downhill, time and time again. This strawberry really _was_ important.

Theo flinched as he saw a heavy piece of the structure begin to crumble, but Madeline was able to hop off of it just in time, continuing with yet another dash. A few meters of climbing later, and her goal was just barely within reach, across a gap that made Madeline curse her short build. Her hand reached out, grabbing and contorting to try and make contact with the fruit, but her attempts bore none of it. 

It would take a leap to reach the berry, so that’s what she took.

The next few seconds were a blur, but Madeline could recall just dodging a number of spikes at terminal velocity with an outward dash, the problem being that it sent her off of the ruins and on-course for the rocky crevice below. Something was wrong, but it wasn’t something her mind could fully register before… Madeline was caught.

It wasn’t Theo, nor did it seem to be the Mountain throwing her another rope. She simply felt like she’d been caught, and then tossed aside to the safety of the nearby cliff.

When her senses came back to her, all she could see was Theo’s shaky hand waving over her face. _”Hey! Are you alright?! That was CRAZY close!”_

Madeline sat up carefully, brushing some of the snow out of her hair, still fading to its natural red color from blue. “Yeah… I think I’m alright.” She then opened her other hand, revealing a perfectly preserved strawberry sitting on her palm. _“...And I got the stupid berry.”_

…

“Well? Was it worth it?”

The two had gathered themselves and set out to find a suitable place to camp for the night, Madeline getting away with one extra strawberry to her name in exchange for a few years off of Theo’s life.

“Yes.”

“Like, I respect your stubbornness- and honestly you pulled that one off really impressively- but I guess I don’t get your mindset on this whole thing.”

“Well… I guess it’s complicated.” Madeline tapped at her bag’s straps idly, beginning to feel the little extra weight of the berries on her shoulders. “It’s like I’ve got this checklist in my mind, you know? At first I thought it was going to be as easy as scaling the mountain, sticking to the trail, and maybe getting my hands dirty with some climbing. But then in that abandoned City I began to notice other things around me-- there were these perfect little red berries growing in between the cracks of the sidewalk, on the top floor of skyscrapers… all over the place, and I just _couldn’t_ leave them alone. If I left them behind, the checklist would be missing some marks, and even if I climbed the whole mountain it still wouldn’t feel like I really _did it._ These are part of the Mountain to me.” She shrugged off her backpack to root through some of her findings so far including the container full of strawberries, an odd looking crystal and even a cassette tape, all at the top of her luggage. “It kind of sucks, but I wanted to do this all the way, so I’m not leaving one thing unchecked.”

“Where are you gonna put ‘em all? That tupperware was almost full.”

_”Are you even listening…?”_

Theo let out a short laugh, though he hoped the deadpan would lighten the mood a bit; Madeline still had intensity in her even after collecting her prize. “But really, I still don’t get any of that, but I can respect it! And who knows, maybe those things _do_ have some weird Mountain Magic to them. I guess I won’t stop you if you’re really going for them all.” Inspecting her loot more closely, Theo took notice of the tape. “What do you think that’s gonna sound like?”

“Oh, this?” She lifted the cassette tape, which looked surprisingly mint-condition apart from the words scribbled on its label in marker: _’Sever The Skyline’_. “I found it in one of the buildings, just lying on a table. There’s no way I’m not playing this when I get home.”

“Probably some other climber’s memoirs or something… maybe I should start collecting these things too, could get some interesting stuff!”

Madeline went silent, zipping up her bag in a way that Theo immediately recognized as possessive. “Alright,” he conceded, “I’ll let you keep all the stuff and things, as long as I get to hear the tapes when we’re done.” She let out a breath, nodding in agreement with those terms.

“Just uh, _maybe_ don’t nearly hurl yourself off a cliff next time you try to get one of those, ok?”

“I can’t make any promises.”

Madeline still wasn’t sure what sort of odd force kept her from falling to her doom, but she decided not to test it and to simply keep going on as usual. The Mountain has a lot of weird properties to it after all. Questioning everything would only serve to distract her from the goal sitting upon the summit of Celeste. As the sun set, Theo and Madeline found a sturdy looking piece of the ruins to serve as shelter from the snow, setting up their tents and a campfire to get them through the night.

Meanwhile, that ’odd force’ was busy plotting a way to get them back home ASAP.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because strawberries are really important. Stick around because hopefully next chapter will include another member of the Celeste cast...


End file.
